Calcutta, Feb. 21: Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee today admitted that she was yet to seal the seat-sharing deal with the BJP’s state unit due to “some minor hitches”.

“Though it is settled that the BJP will put up its nominees in 13 out of 42 seats, the problem crops up as it is asking for some key seats,” Mamata said after inaugurating a Muslim burial ground in Topsia.

“We have our differences with the BJP, but to ensure the ruling CPM’s defeat, we have joined forces with the BJP,” she said, adding that the “minor hurdle” to the seat-sharing deal would be resolved by next week.

Trinamul sources said the hitches centred round the BJP’s demand for some “urban seats” which Mamata has refused to part with.

“We have already offered 13 seats in rural Bengal to the BJP but the problem arises as it is insisting on some urban seats,” said a key Trinamul functionary.

He added that the party would meet state BJP president Tathagata Roy in Delhi tonight to finalise the deal.

Rebel Trinamul MP Sudip Bandopadhyay, who has been denied nomination for the Calcutta Northwest constituency, today again tried to contact some key party functionaries in a last-ditch attempt to seek re-election from the city instead of Raiganj.

The sources, however, said the Trinamul leadership has already finalised the name of city mayor Subrata Mukherjee as the party’s nominee for Calcutta Northwest.

“Mukherjee has already started his campaign and Bandopadhyay is risking disciplinary action by regularly demanding that he be allowed to enter the fray from Calcutta Northwest. One should go by the party’s decision,” said Satyanarayan Bajaj, Trinamul Congress vice-president and MLA from Jorasanko.